Abstract:
Organisations are part of human life and women and men spend a considerable amount of
time in their respective work organisations. There is a current debate on how women and men
are placed in organisational structures/hierarchies. In the globalized world economy, women
play a key role and there is a significant progress in the labour force participation of women
over the last two decades. In contrast there is a universal and persistent gender difference
prevailing in productivity and earnings in different sectors and jobs. Review of literature
indicates an absence of studies globally, on gender composition and positioning of gender in
the organisation structure of universities. Researchers being academic staff members of the
Sri Lankan public sector universities with an experience of more than two and half decades
can claim the fact that majority of the leadership positions such as vice chancellor, dean and
head of the department are held by men. In contrast, the gender composition and the
positioning of academic and non-academic staff members within the organisation structure
have not been researched. The study relates to the conference theme of exploring and
reviewing gender configurations and the situations/status of women and men in higher
education in academia, in countries and in Higher Education Institutions. Against this back
drop to fill the gap in existing literature this study using the case study methodology aims at
understanding the positioning of women in the organisation structure of University of Sri
Jayewardenepura, a public university in Sri Lanka. Main objective of the study is to analyse
the gender composition of the academic and non-academic staff members of the university
and their positioning in the organisation structure. A quantitative analysis is carried out using
secondary data that are collected from published documents available at the University of Sri
Jayewardenepura. Percentage analysis is the main statistical measure used for the analysis.
According to the analysis at University of Sri Jayewardenepura gender segregation is visible
in the organisation structure and includes both horizontal segregation that concentrates
women and men in different types of work, and vertical segregation that concentrates women in lower grades and men in higher grades. In conclusion gender is integral to organisational
processes at University of Sri Jayewardenepura and it is neither gender neutral nor asexual
but gendered